


I am the Cat that Walks by Itself

by Truth



Category: Psyren
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Organized Crime, Psychics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 15:48:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Truth/pseuds/Truth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When something appears too good to be true, it usually is.   </p><p>A slightly AU take on Haruhiko's introduction to Inui and Kagetora.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I am the Cat that Walks by Itself

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sententiae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sententiae/gifts).



> I apologize for the spellings used here. I went with the ones used by the archive, except in the case of Shinonome Ran, as the spelling 'Lan' was used in the Yuletide letter.

“I am the cat that walks by itself, and all places are alike to me.” – Rudyard Kipling.

Gunshots were not, typically, the best sort of percussive accompaniment to music. Unless you were attending a live performance of a certain sort of orchestral piece, it was generally something to be avoided. Even if you were at the correct sort of performance, it was usually canon fire, not actual gunshots. 

Usually.

The 1812 Overture was not precisely typical fare in most nightclubs, which made the entire thing moot. That and the bullets. Especially the bullets.

“It can’t hurt to take a couple minutes to pick up some dinner, you said.” It’s hard to be properly bitter when you’re attempting to find cover behind a dance stage that’s less than 50 centimeters high. “He can’t possibly get into any trouble while we get something to eat.”

“How is it my fault that the asshole interpreted ‘going to grab some noodles’ as ‘time to ditch my bodyguards and go clubbing with the sixteen year old daughter of a violent criminal’?” 

“Perhaps because that’s why he needed bodyguards in the first place?” There was a brief pause as sparks flew from one of the lighting fixtures above and both young men put their hands over their heads as a mostly ineffectual shield.

“At least they’re lousy shots?”

“That’s absolutely no excuse.” 

“Can you see him?” Haruhiko kept his own head down, earning him a dark look from his companion. It was wasted, as he couldn’t see it.

“If I could see him, I would be tempted to shoot him myself.” 

“Oh come on, Lan. We need the money. All we have to do to get paid is get him out of here in one piece.”

“At this point, I’m willing to see if we can get more for shooting him in the back.” With a grumble, Lan cautiously shifted himself up onto his elbows and peered carefully over the top of the raised dance floor. “The girl’s been picked up by the goons.”

It was a literal description. The young lady in question was being carried out of the club over the shoulder of a very large man. She wasn’t struggling, arms folded and a decidedly mutinous expression on her face, despite the indignity of her pose.

Haruhiko, face pressed to the floor, was peering beneath their miniscule cover. “Not seeing any blood. Maybe he got lucky?”

“Got him.” There was satisfaction in Lan’s voice. “He’s hiding behind the -”

There were more shots and both men swore. 

“The DJ’s equipment. I see him.” Haruhiko gingerly gathered himself to a position where he could, hopefully, lunge to his feet without getting shot. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

**

“We had him pinned down. We had him. We just had to get him to come out where we could get our damn hands on him.”

Frustration was practically tangible, turning the airy, pleasant room into something more reminiscent of a team changing room after a bad game. There were six men, mostly large, and several displaying the build of someone who spent a lot more time in the gym than usually considered healthy. They stood more or less at attention before another man with slightly less bulk, but a far more expensive suit and a distinct aura of menace.

“So why isn’t he here?” The tall gentleman folded his arms, looking from one angry and embarrassed face to the next. “I told you to bring that disgusting little worm here to me. Explain your failure.”

“We can’t.” Glances were exchanged, and grim looks. “We had him.”

“There was this… explosion? And the lights went out. We had a man at each exit, and he did not leave that club.”

“We left two men there, inside, when the police arrived. They got floodlights in there, and he was gone. He never left and the police didn’t find him.” The last man in the line cracked his knuckles, face set. “I don’t know how he got out of there, but we will find him.”

“What about the bodyguards?” The new voice was low, rough and caused everyone in the room to turn abruptly, several with weapons suddenly in hand.

The man in charge held up a hand, causing the various weapons to be grudgingly lowered. “Kagetora. Thank you for coming.”

“What bodyguards? That lowlife doesn’t have any bodyguards.” The anger came from a man at the far end of the row. “He spends his time idling and seeking innocent girls to –“

“Enough.” When abrupt silence met his words, their employer turned his attention back to the new arrival. “What bodyguards are these?”

Kagetora frowned. “He hired a pair last week. I’m not sure where he found them or who they are – not yet. He was looking in some fairly odd places and asking some peculiar questions, so who knows what he managed to dredge up.”

“The fact that he managed to escape so cleanly means it may not have been dredging. Those found on the bottom are rarely so resourceful.” Ignoring the somewhat resentful looks from his men, he gestured to Kagetora. “Find him for me. He needs to be taught that my daughter is not a toy.”

“But sir –“ A raised hand silenced the protest.

Kagetora bowed respectfully. “I will find him for you.”

**

“What the hell does he think he’s doing?” Haruhiko lowered the binoculars and scowled at the figure across the way. Their employer had brought them here and then departed, saying something about a meeting.

Lan glanced through the blinds and shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s a far cry from picking up the underaged daughters of local crime lords.”

“He wasn’t very surprised last night, was he?”

“Not very surprised at all.” Lan reached for the binoculars. “Which worries me, a little.”

“He knew we were ‘different’,” Haruhiko said. He let Lan have the binoculars, mostly because very little could be made out of the room, save their employer’s gesturing form. “That’s why he hired us. I didn’t think he knew how different. D’you think he hired us because of that?”

“I’m becoming certain of it. He paid enough.” 

“So – if he wanted us for what we are, and not who, then whatever he’s up to is probably bad news.”

“Do we have any choice?” Lan adjusted the binoculars, attempting to gain a better idea of what was going on in the building across the way. “We’re just lucky he didn’t think to pull the curtains.”

“Maybe he wanted to be sure we could rescue him again,” Haruhiko said. He moved to watch over Lan’s shoulder. “I don’t like this.”

“We need the money.”

There was silence, after that, as they watched their employer, Kiyotada Inui, gesture to whoever lurked in the shadows of the room across the way.

**

Kagetora’s methods weren’t precisely subtle, but they did produce results. Two days after Inui’s vanishing trick at the club, he found himself in possession of some rather intriguing information.

Inui’s search for bodyguards had, indeed, taken him to some interesting places. Examining some of his efforts to find candidates with what he felt to be the appropriate credentials, it was difficult to tell if the man suffered from delusions or was simply surprisingly perceptive. Perhaps that was why he had trouble finding anyone willing to take him seriously.

In fact, Kagetora was still having some difficulty in narrowing down who, exactly, the two young men seen with Inui were. They weren’t a known quantity, nor could he pinpoint exactly where and how Inui had managed to hire them. Given the escape at the club and some of the weirder requirements attached to his various hiring attempts, they had to have some very peculiar skills.

For someone like Inui to have those skills within his power was unsettling. The man was unhinged, and Kagetora was beginning to suspect that his conduct with a certain pretty teenaged girl had been a test both of his new bodyguards and of her father.

That did not bode well by anyone’s standards.

Even more unsettling, Inui had simply upped stakes and vanished. His apartment had been abandoned, still with most of his things on the shelves. Not that there was much for him to take away.

Kagetora had gotten access easily enough and moved through the place quietly, frowning. Clothing, expensive, but not much of it. Furniture, again expensive, but holding no real personality. No photographs, nothing particularly noteworthy or seeming to relate to anything else. Research had shown that Inui was an orphan with no living relatives, but to leave so little personal impact on his surroundings argued for a certain deliberate choice.

The small desk had nothing inside it, not a single note or piece of electronics or even an abandoned pen. It was the only thing in the flat that looked as though it had actually been packed up. 

Flipping open his phone, Kagetora placed a call. “Hey. I need anything you can tell me about Kiyotada Inui – and dig a little deeper, this time.”

**

“Look, dragging us out to the middle of nowhere isn’t –“

“I’m paying you.” Inui’s voice was even. He didn’t even bother to look up from the notebook he was scribbling in. “You have the directions. Just drive.”

Lan glanced into the rearview mirror and glared at Haruhiko. He mouthed, ‘Just shut up,’ before turning his attention back to the road.

With a grumble and a glare of his own at the back of Inui’s head, Haruhiko settled back into his seat. He had a small hand-held game system, but he couldn’t find the enthusiasm to play any of the games. Something was wrong. He could feel it. Something just – wasn’t right, and it was putting up the hair at the back of his neck.

It annoyed him when Lan wouldn’t listen. It didn’t happen often. Usually Lan listened, even when it was just to roll his eyes and tell Haruhiko to stop being an idiot. In this case, the money was the deciding factor for Lan, and Haruhiko couldn’t blame him. Still, something about this just plain smelled bad, and he wished he could put his finger on it. 

Lan didn’t have much time for ‘feelings’.

Haruhiko fidgeted with the little handheld game, turning it over and over as he stared at the back of Inui’s head. “Where are we going? Can’t you at least tell us that much?”

“No. We’ll be there soon enough.” Inui flipped a page, still exuding calm.

Haruhiko didn’t believe it for a minute. They’d spent enough time with their unsettling employer, he of the scars and the bizarre clothing choices, to know that very little about him was ‘calm’. 

He could wait. He wouldn’t like it, but he could do it. Haruhiko sprawled sideways in the back of the small car, still turning the game system between his fingers. He’d have to wait. Haruhiko hated that.

**

Kiyotada Inui, it turned out, was more than a rich, orphan who liked to mess with organized crime. Dark things were murmured, here and there, about his habits. The general consensus was that while he appeared harmless, he was genuinely unhinged. More, most of his money came from somewhere entirely unaccounted for.

It was hard to hide large amounts of money, still harder to hide it if it was in use. While Kagetora had to admire the skill that was going into it, he doubted that Inui himself was behind it. That led to more disturbing thoughts. If Inui wasn’t behind it himself, then who was, and what was their aim?

Better luck had been had with investigating his two unusual bodyguards – or one of them, at any rate. Shinonome Lan had a paperwork footprint that was found easily enough, partly because the trail that his money left was a broad and clear one. It led directly to a major hospital and the care of his sister, Shinonome Chika. 

There, however, the trail went cold. Shinonome Chika had been withdrawn from the hospital, and there were no records at all as to where she’d been taken or even if she still lived. Investigation was on-going, but while precious little could be found regarding the Shinonome siblings, the second bodyguard still didn’t even have a name.

That was even more suspicious, somehow.

**

Their destination turned out to be a very large, industrial-looking building tucked away some distance from the main road where it wound up and into the hills. Haruhiko was liking this less and less the further they got from other people.

From what he could see of Lan’s ever-tightening grip on the wheel, he wasn’t enjoying it much either. There are some situations wherein an ‘I told you so’ is absolutely not worth it.

“Here we are.” Inui unfolded himself from the car. 

Haruhiko slid from the car and positioned himself to one side, watching as Lan reluctantly locked the car behind them. Despite the size of the building, there were no other cars immediately evident, and no sign of other people. 

“This is… freaky.” 

Lan made a ‘shut up’ gesture with one hand where Inui couldn’t see it.

“This way.” Inui strode toward the building, with Lan at his heels and Haruhiko reluctantly bringing up the rear.

The absence of other people turned out to be an illusion, of sorts. When Inui pushed open the glass doors, there was a receptionist on the other side. She had a vase of bright flowers on her desk and a name plate and a wide, welcoming smile.

Haruhiko decided it would’ve been less unsettling if it hadn’t looked quite so normal.

“It’s so wonderful to see you again!” She smiled at Inui. “They’re in room 464. You know the way.”

He nodded to her and strode past, leaving Haruhiko and Lan to trade uneasy looks as they followed him to a bank of elevators.

“What’re we doing here?” Haruhiko hadn’t meant to give their employer the satisfaction of asking, but he simply couldn’t go any longer without knowing. “What is this place?”

“It’s a hospital.”

Biting back the immediate urge to ask if Inui was finally going to seek the psychiatric help he so obviously needed, or any cracks about plastic surgery, Haruhiko kept his mouth firmly closed. Instead, he shifted so that he could keep an eye on Lan. Lan really didn’t like hospitals, for obvious reasons. As the elevator came to a stop, he glanced up and inadvertently caught Inui’s eye in the mirrored metal of the doors.

The look on his face was unsettlingly pleased.

This time, Haruhiko managed to keep his mouth shut as the doors to the elevator slid open. Keeping an eye on Inui, he slipped from the elevator and glanced around. After all, it was his job to take a bullet for his employer, right? No matter how much he was currently thinking that a bullet might improve matters.

Inui quit the elevator and turned left, heading down the hallway with the assurance of someone who had been this way before. Lan trod silently at his heels, face set.

The door to room 464 was open and Inui strode within as Haruhiko paused at the doorway. Lan moved to follow, and stopped dead in the doorway. Haruhiko moved to join him, peering inside –

“Fuck me.”

**

Kagetora was having a rough few days. Inui had vanished completely, it seemed, another trick far more difficult than popular fiction would have you believe. Shinonome Lan had also vanished, or at least that easily followed trail of money had dried up completely and left him with few other leads.

Those leads, however, were taking him places that were darker and deeper than he liked. Inui’s more unsavory habits were being revealed as more unsettling than previously believed. There were those who had been seen in his company who had never been seen again, and a few who had resurfaced so changed as to be nearly unrecognizable in more than just the physical.

Perhaps he had an ulterior motive in the selection of his bodyguards. It was obvious that he had sought out two young men with certain gifts, though what those gifts were was less clear, and even that was bright and blatant compared to what plans he had involving them.

Kagetora had the distinct feeling of a clock somewhere, ticking cheerfully toward oblivion. If only he had some idea of how much time was left. With grim determination, he turned back to the task of tracking some of Inui’s previous… associates.

**

Shinonome Chika lay as still and silent as ever, her hospital bed carefully set where the sunlight could reach her. Fresh flowers sat by her bedside, and she looked precisely as she had the last time Lan and Haruhiko had visited her. This, however, was definitely not the hospital where they had left her.

Inui swayed out of the way of a wildly swung fist as Haruhiko locked both arms around Lan and dragged him through the doorway and out of the room.

“Stop, stop, stop! You can’t fight in there!”

“Truer words were never spoken.” Inui leaned in the doorway, his eerily calm expression holding a hint of something less savory. “Not unless you wish some harm to befall your sister.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Haruhiko snarled. “You’re making it worse!”

Lan struggled for a moment before going still. “What is she doing here?”

“She’s your sister, isn’t she?” Inui gave him an empty smile. “This is a hospital. She is … receiving care.”

“She was receiving care before!”

“Yes, but the money you were spending on her, so very much money by the way, was leaving a very distinct trail.” Inui turned to look back at Chika and Haruhiko tightened his hold on Lan. “It couldn’t be allowed to go on.”

“So you kidnapped her? How did you even get away with this? She’s my sister! No one has the right to –“

From Haruhiko’s point of view, there was no warning at all. One moment had him attempting to keep Lan from charging Inui. The next found him slammed against the wall of the hospital corridor, Lan atop him.

Inui stood over them, and he was not alone. As Haruhiko’s vision faded to black, all he was really conscious of was the matching set of disturbing smiles.

**

“He’s got a nasty hobby, one that involves the application of pain and a near religious appreciation for it. All sorts of pain. Those that survive don’t tend to recover – and that’s of the ones we found.” Kagetora was frowning at the small stack of reports. “There’ve been quite a few disappearances that, after some careful examination, can probably be attributed to him, even if no one would ever be able to prove it.”

“Is that all this is? Someone who slipped the rails of sanity and is determined to drag as many people as possible down with him?” Matsuri was also frowning. “I don’t think so.”

“It feels like more, but I can’t put my finger on it.” He turned the final report so Matsuri could see it clearly. “This got my attention.”

She took it from him and scanned it. “… wait. These names – they’re Psychicers.”

“Some of them. Probably all of them. There’s no real way to check.” Kagetora tapped his fingers on the edge of the report. “These guys – and the bodyguards, I’m sure of it.”

“Do you think he hired them because he wanted to play with them? That’s disgusting.”

“I’d’ve gone with horrible, but yeah,” Kagetora said. “The Shinonome boy has a sister. She’s missing too, and I’m not sure how he pulled that off, but it doesn’t look good.”

“You don’t think he decided to take care of her out of the goodness of his heart?” Matsuri was already looking at the file with Lan’s name on it. “But it seems just like the sort of thing he’d do.”

“Sarcasm. Ha. Ha. Ha.”

“There has to be a way to find them,” Matsuri said. She frowned at the reports. “Nobody is perfect. No plan is so perfect that it doesn’t have a flaw.”

“Haven’t found it yet.” 

“Keep trying.” Matsuri smiled at him. “I have faith in you.”

**

“You can’t keep me here.” Haruhiko was trying very hard to keep his voice steady. He stood, barefoot, with both bare hands pressed against the door. “You can’t.”

“I can.” Inui’s voice held a note of smug satisfaction. Or so Haruhiko imagined. It was hard to tell through the heavy plastic set in the wooden door. “No metal, nothing conductive – I can keep you here. And I will.”

“Why? I can hardly do any guarding while I’m locked in a cell. What the fuck are you after?” Haruhiko could feel his pretense at calm beginning to slip. “What do you want?”

“What do I want?” Inui was dimly visible through the thick plastic, but Haruhiko imagined he could see the man’s scarred face twisting into a smile. “Why – nothing. Nothing at all.”

Haruhiko took a step back, wondering why those words caused such a heavy sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The cell itself was empty, lacking windows, a chair or even a bed. There was a plastic thing shaped something like a chair, and he could guess what it would have to be used for. There was no sign of any way to provide food or water, so he either wouldn’t be here for long or he was in for a very bad time.

He didn’t deal with inactivity well, and knew it. Without anything to do, or to distract himself with, he’d start to dwell on what Inui had in mind; on what he had planned for Lan and Chika.

He wouldn’t need Inui to drive him mad. He’d do it to himself.

**

“So it turns out there are only so many places you can take a coma patient and be sure they’ll survive the transfer.” Kagetora was feeling pretty damn pleased with himself. “Even the private hospitals have to have things like doctors and supplies – and ambulances. It wasn’t hard to track down the company that transported Shinonome Chika. Harder to figure out where they took her, but I’m determined.”

And there was an ambulance dispatcher in the hospital with four broken fingers, but he was going to count it as a win anyway.

“And?”

Kagetora shifted as he turned the wheel of the car to the far right, swerving around a large truck. “And I found her. Once I’ve got her, I’ll have the brother. Once I have the brother – I should have Inui.”

“You don’t think someone like him wouldn’t find a use for a large private hospital?” Matsuri’s voice was dry, despite the crackle of the poor reception on his phone. 

“Hey, if he’s there, I’ll take it.” Kagetora swerved again, still managing to hang onto the phone as he did so. “I’ll call you back when I’ve got him.”

“Sure you will. Make sure it’s not from one of the beds at that hospital. Or any hospital.”

“You love me.”

“Get to work, idiot.”

Kagetora hung up, grinning like the idiot she’d accused him of being. “Now for Inui.”

**

Lan stood at the foot of his sister’s bed, jaw clenched with stress and anger. He knew that Haruhiko was here, somewhere. But he didn’t know where, or how far away, and it was a very large building. Inui was making certain Lan couldn’t explore it, and with two hostages, carefully separated, he had Lan more or less exactly where he wanted him. Lan could save one, but not both, and it was not a choice he could force himself to make.

He could see the sick, muted pleasure that Inui got from watching him struggle, and when Inui wasn’t watching him – well. Saburo Inui seemed pleasant enough, but Lan wouldn’t trust anyone associated with Inui, no matter how pleasant. There was something just wrong about all of this. 

He tried very hard not to think about Haruhiko. Lan knew he was capable of taking care of himself, but he hadn’t seen Haruhiko since he’d awoken from the blow that had sent the both of them crashing into the wall. That had been four days ago. The more he saw of Inui, the less he liked any of this. He’d carefully outlined a plan for theft on a grand scale, something Lan could do fairly easily, and which would be nearly impossible to track.

They’d need Haruhiko for it to work, but Inui was avoiding any actual questions and Lan was becoming more and more tense with every passing hour. 

Something had to change, and money wasn’t enough to keep Lan quiet and obedient. Inui must have sensed that, which was why he’d taken Chika. He knew Lan wouldn’t forgive, which was why he’d also isolated Haruhiko. Caught between a rock and a hard place, all Lan could do was endure.

**  
The small cell had become Haruhiko’s private hell. Inui was taking a great deal of sadistic pleasure from denying Haruhiko anything to do or think about, which was far worse than it sounds.

Inui had hidden his own abilities from his ‘bodyguards’ and being able to create a second, horrible set of hands, liked to lurk outside the room where Haruhiko couldn’t reach him but he, in turn, could torment Haruhiko more or less as he liked. Not that Haruhiko couldn't damage the thing, but he couldn't damage it enough.

  


The last few days had been literally maddening. Haruhiko hadn’t managed more than a few hours of sleep, and those had been fitful and miserable, affording no true rest. He was sore all over from repeated blows… but the fact that Inui was pulling his punches was obvious, and that made it harder to take. Inui had plans – plans that involved Haruhiko, and Haruhiko had no idea what they might be.  


That merely added to the stress and the fear. Without windows or any real idea of how much time was passing, it was actively maddening. Lan was out there somewhere, he hoped. There was no reason to steal Chika and take over her very expensive care if Inui didn't also have plans for Lan, and he was so tired that he couldn't think any more clearly than that.  


Pain and lack of sleep was leading toward hallucinations. He was starting to imagine that Inui's tormenting creature looked almost familiar. Furious and afraid, he burned it's face off, earning himself a blow that left the room spinning around him as he hit the nearest wall.  


The sound of the door opening went entirely unnoticed.

**

Waking was a warm, comfortable feeling, and one that Haruhiko was dizzily familiar with. “Mfthgm?”

“Yes.” Lan’s voice sounded dry and tired. “Lots of drugs. Inui beat the crap out of you, you idiot. You couldn’t’ve figured out how to start a fire or something? That door was made of wood.”

“Fyou.”

“No.”

“Yss.”

“Oh go back to sleep.”

His second waking was far more gradual, and contained quite a bit more pain. It was still far better than recent memory, so he risked opening an eye.

“AUUUGH!” In his attempt to escape the horrible creature hanging over him, he banged his head on the head of the bed and nearly fell out of it entirely.

“Nice. Very nice. There’s gratitude for you.” The huge, scarred man looming over his bed actually looked offended. “Next time, I’ll leave you locked up.”

“Shut up, Haruhiko. I’m sorry, he’s always like that.”

“Loud?”

“An idiot.” Haruhiko dragged his eyes from the intimidating figure looming over him to Lan, who was giving him the look that always went with that accusation.

“What? Who? Help?” Haruhiko gestured weakly at the huge man.

“This’s Hyoudou Kagetora. He rescued you. Us.” Lan gave the man a look of grudging approval. “It was… interesting.”

“Rescued?” The man didn’t look like ‘rescue’ was a part of his resume. Knee-capping, maybe. Freelance murder. That sort of thing.

“There’s that gratitude again.” A large hand ruffled Haruhiko’s hair, provoking a snarl of outrage. “Get used to it, kid.”

“I’m not a –“

“Shut up, Haruhiko.”

Haruhiko shut up, though not without a fulminating glare for them both.

“Better.” Another obnoxious ruffle of Haruhiko’s hair and the huge man turned to go.

Lan shot Haruhiko a pointed look and gestured at Kagetora.

“I … thank you.” It was grudging, but honest.

Kagetora didn’t turn, simply waving a hand as he disappeared out the door.

Haruhiko sat up gingerly, surprised to find that he hurt a lot less than he’d thought. “Where are we?” He looked around at the room and paused, eyes widening. “Where are we?”

“Elmore Wood, though we won’t be staying.”

Still staring at the opulence around him, Haruhiko made a gesture of incomprehension. “We won’t? But – look at it! Why are we here? What happened?”

Lan smirked at him, pleased with his reaction. “Well, that’s something of a long story. Where shall I begin?”


End file.
